Photos at Occupying Wall Street

[tgtaylor]

Here in San Francisco they are camped-out in front of the Federal Reserve Bank which occupies an entire city block at the foot of Market Street. The Socialists Workers Party is represented by just a couple of sign bearing protestors conspicuously stationed across the street - a sign that there may be some ideology conflict between the two groups. I walked through the encampment yesterday afternoon with a Pentax PZ-1 loaded with Neopan 400 and shot about 20, 25 frames - one of a sign-bearing gentleman attired in typical financial district fashion. The police have cordoned off the portico with iron barricades permitting only employees to enter or leave and several media vans are parked and waiting nearby. The atmosphere, though, was peaceful and had a decidedly hippie flavor to it. I have been working on a special project for some time adding one or two images at a time when something happens or when I run across a view that fits.


Thomas

[Michael Cienfuegos]

The unwashed in San Diego had to take down their tents and tables, the City had booked the area for a dance concert this evening. They made only one or two arrests. I wanted to go down today, but with all the police activity and my own errands, I was unable to go, and my GF has plans for me all weekend. If they are back on Monday I will probably be there with my Speed,

[r.e.]

My impressions from visiting Zuccotti Park today:

There are maybe 1,000 people, if that, occupying the park. They represent every conceivable cause and range in age from late teens to elderly. It reminded me of a late 60s/early 70s sit-in, but without the waft of marijuana. The participants are quite civilized, indeed pretty laid back. There's music, art, people making silk-screened T-shirts with political slogans in exchange for a donation, a meditation group, etc.

The police are good natured and probably bored. They don't seem to have anything to do except ensure that gawkers like me don't create bottlenecks on the sidewalk around the park.

The national and local news networks are out in force. However, they don't seem to be doing a whole lot, probably because there isn't anything dramatic happening. It's kind of like a mini-Woodstock but without the rock 'n' roll. CNBC has created a "Speaker's Corner" which it is streaming live over the internet. Lots of people were lined up to talk, but you can't hear a word that they are saying. Unlike Hyde Park, where the audience is the surrounding crowd, these people are talking at normal volume into a mic to whoever is listening over the Internet.

I found it amusing that Brooks Brothers has a flagship store on one side of the park, and that there's something called The High School for Economics and Finance on another.

I think that Mike Bloomberg has completely lost it and I doubt that his police commissioner is giving him a whole lot of support. This is a pretty tame event. As for Bloomberg's threat the other day to move in to carry out "ordinary cleanup", the "occupiers" seem to be doing a bang-up job of keeping the park clean, right down to having dedicated bins for waste that can be composted.

Lots of amateur photographers, almost all digital. Saw one well-dressed woman with a shiny, new looking Voightlander, but not a single Leica. No medium format, no large format. Saw one guy using a tripod to take photos with a really tiny, thin camera the size of a cell phone, which it may well have been.

[Noah A]

I've been planning a portrait project involving the participants and supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement. As a former newspaper photojournalist, it felt like too big of a story for me not to attempt to document it in some way. However my time as a street photographer has passed, that kind of work just doesn't interest me anymore (in terms of doing it, I still admire it when other people do it well).

I decided to focus on the people involved, it's a pretty diverse group and with lots of different backgrounds and goals. I wanted to shoot 4x5 portraits in a simple, studio style.

This involved some logistics--getting power for the lights, getting a background worked out (I've shot in this style before and normally I just tape seamless to a wall, but there were no flat walls available in the Philly site and probably not in the other sites either). So I got a Honda generator, a Lastolite collapsible background, and went to it.

I started shooting yesterday and after I had gotten warmed up with my first three portraits, one of my Profoto monolights broke. I don't know what happened. My assistant swears it didn't blow over but the umbrella was deformed and it jammed into the light, breaking the protective glass dome. Thankfully the flashtube was OK. My replacement should come tomorrow so with luck I'll shoot again in Philly on Thursday and/or Friday and in New York next week.

I'm shooting with the Technikardan and a 210 Apo-Sironar-S on the new Portra 160, which is absolutely brilliant for this kind of work. Light is from two Profoto Compact 600s and a Honda 2000i.

I posted some rough scanned polaroids (ok, fuji-roids), here as a preview:

http://noahaddis.com/news/?p=75

[Jim Michael]

I decided to focus on the people involved, it's a pretty diverse group and with lots of different backgrounds and goals. I wanted to shoot 4x5 portraits in a simple, studio style.

I've been photographing protests, beginning back in 1987 with Freedom March II and then picking up again a couple of years ago with Tea Party, anti-abortion, anti-mosque, 2nd Amendment bring your guns, gay rights, "pro marriage", etc. This protest is quite different from the ones I've covered over the last couple of years. Maybe it's the group dynamic that hasn't been there before.

[r.e.]

...there were no flat walls available in the Philly site and probably not in the other sites either).

If yesterday was typical, I don't think that you'll have much of a problem setting up at Zuccotti as long as you don't obstruct the sidewalk. You will probably notice a crowd of people and additional police about a block away. These are people lined up to see the 9/11 memorial, which is behind the High School for Economics and Finance. I think that it might be possible to do a project that incorporates several elements, including the "occupation", the high school, the memorial, Brooks Brothers, Brookfield Properties, etc.

That said, I wonder where Occupy Wall Street is going. Most of the New Yorkers that I've spoken with support the cause, not surprising since it is anti-bank, but very few people seem to be backing up their support with action. I suspect that part of the problem, from the protestors' side of things, is that Zuccotti Park is not exactly centrally located and it isn't very large. The dynamic might be quite different if this was taking place at, for example, Union Square. My overall impression is that there is a disconnect between what the media are reporting and the reality. Bloomberg's hamfisted approach mostly serves to stoke the fires. If he had any strategic sense, he'd just let them sit there indefinitely.

[paulr]

The police are good natured and probably bored. They don't seem to have anything to do except ensure that gawkers like me don't create bottlenecks on the sidewalk around the park.

Yeah, I was down there a few evenings ago, definitely not during any moments of drama or even any organized demonstration. The cops, like the occupiers, were just hanging out, talking amongst themselves. In a way they were just adding to the human presence. Which is a funny kind of subversion ... if you gather enough protesters, the police dept. is required to add its own. Kind of like a matching grant from the city.

As for Bloomberg's threat the other day to move in to carry out "ordinary cleanup", the "occupiers" seem to be doing a bang-up job of keeping the park clean, right down to having dedicated bins for waste that can be composted..

I am not taking sides on this particular issue ... just saying that I appreciate Bloomberg's quandarry. The park is a kind of murky gray area. Techincally it's privately owned, and the owners have asked to have it cleared. I don't know what the actual legal rammifications are for this kind of private/public space, but I'm glad Bloomberg has backed away from any strong arm tactics concerning the park.

And yes, the occupiers seem to be amazingly well organized and tidy. Many of them are unwashed and living on the pavement in sleeping bags, and they still do a better job of keeping house than I do at home.

FWIW, I'd be surprised if anyone would hassle a photographer, except maybe for blocking the street or sidewalk.

[Brian C. Miller]

I was at the "Occupy Seattle" (ah...) grouping(?) this last Saturday. I exposed six sheets, and nine 120 rolls. (developing in D76...)

Anyways...

Locally this was more like Sakura-Con or the Fremont Solstice Fair and parade, but the dress code for the participants was slacker/hippie/homeless, and nobody was naked. There were a couple of belly dancers and a few "zombies," though. Rhetoric was the same old "rich and big corporations bad" and "feel good and blessings" stuff, and absolutely no direction. They went for a meander in the afternoon down to the Pike Place Market and back. (Oh, yeah, they really showed the "banksters" their stuff by hanging around the market on a Saturday. Yeah...)

Jay DeFehr showed up with an Ansco camera. He was hard to locate, as black jackets were very common. (I wore my yellow bicycle jacket and had my trusty Dahon pack bike. Yes, I was fully clothed.) The little bike was great for getting around during the march, as reloading a Holga is slow. As for film cameras, somebody had a Mamiya RB, and another fellow had a Graflex Miniature Speed Graphic and a pinhole camera.

I got a free T-shirt in size gargantuan.

Yay. Whoopee. Oh, those banks and major corporations are sooo intimidated...

Banal pictures to follow.

[r.e.]

The park is a kind of murky gray area. Techincally it's privately owned, and the owners have asked to have it cleared. I don't know what the actual legal rammifications are for this kind of private/public space, but I'm glad Bloomberg has backed away from any strong arm tactics concerning the park.

A bit of trivia. The owner, Brookfield Properties, is a Toronto company that among other things built the Montreal Forum, home to what is, obviously, the world's greatest hockey team http://www.brookfieldofficepropertie...sed%201.11.pdf

It is interesting to read about what is going on between NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Brookfield. Commissioner Kelly and Mayor Bloomfield don't seem to be on the same page, which might be why the cops at Zuccotti Park are are not into All Blacks Haka mode.

P.S. Looking forward to this weekend's NZ/France final. Allez la France!

[Jay DeFehr]

Yes, the Seattle chapter was a little, well, Seattle-like, meaning well behaved and generally positive. The speakers ranged from forgettable to grating, and what struck me most was that almost every person in attendance was carrying a camera. In a sense, the event covered itself, and that, for me was the most interesting part of the phenomenon.

The best part was meeting Brian Miller, who let me handle his Super Graphic, and persuaded me that coffee roasting is best done by one's self. Thanks for that, Brian, one more contraption and process to tinker with.

I shot with my Ansco Shur-Shot, from ground level, as it seemed to complement the spirit of the event. I'll post an example photo in the tiny formats thread. I met a nice young man working to prevent the redeployment of traumatized troops, against doctor's recommendations. Unlike many of the other causes vying for support, his seemed well organized, focused, and important.